The Japan National Tourist Organization (JNTO) has announced that foreign visitation to Japan in 2018 broke all previous records with 31.19 million visitors.
The figure represents an 8% increase on the 28.69 million people to visit Japan in 2017.
Tadashi Kaneko, Director of Global Strategy Headquarters, held a press briefing on Friday, stating, “We suffered two disasters in September 2018. The first was Typhoon 21 that hit the Kansai region and the second was the Hokkaido Eastern Iburi earthquake.
“Of course, these each had a great impact and visitation to Japan from overseas was down in September. However, with the combined total of the other months where numbers exceeded those of previous years, we managed to reach a new record.”
The government has set a new target for visitors to Japan of over 40 million in 2020, with the nation set to host the 2019 Rugby World Cup and the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics.
The market would need to increase by an average of 13.2％ in each of the next two years to do so, but Kaneko stated he was confident Japan could reach its goal.
“We have enhanced our digital marketing such as the Japan Official Travel App and we will coordinate promotions with the local areas to attract visitors to regional locations,” he said.
After 2020, the World Expo is confirmed for 2025 and there are hopes that IR facilities will be opening in Osaka prefecture’s Osaka city and Wakayama city in 2024. The support of JNTO will become critical moving forward in developing new appealing attractions and realizing the goal of making Japan a global travel destination.
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